At Crossroads with Gaia
by WarriorWearingSneakers
Summary: Your beloved Percy is currently in my hands to maim or injure. So be sweet and read and review. *You won't know what hit you* Thalia. Enjoy :D {:
1. Chapter 1: Peace never reigned at Camp

**CHAPTER 1  
****AUTHOR POV****  
**_Author's note: You need to review guys! At least TELL ME whether you want me to continue or not. Bec to all you fanfic writers out there, we all need SOME encouragement. Come on!_**  
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It was a peaceful morning, at least what was left of it, since it was nearing noon. The sun blazed over Camp Half-Blood, causing every camper to feel the heat despite the occasional cool wind blowing. Sunday called for some late-sleeping, and this time even Annabeth hadn't bothered to pick herself up out of bed until it was almost lunchtime.

All the campers were enjoying a hearty meal of orange juice and toast. Percy sat alone at the Poseidon table as usual, wishing for the hundredth time that either Annabeth could sit with him, or that Tyson would visit him during the summer. But even Percy couldn't be morose on a Sunday. Suddenly, strange loud noises were heard.

Clarisse could be heard quite clearly, yelling battle cries at the top of her lungs from the other side of the camp. Chiron was a little more composed. He gathered all the young ones, and trusted them to the Apollo archers who were handling defence from the top of the Big House.

Percy uncapped his pen, Anaklusmos and pressed the knob at the side of his watch. Tyson's magnificent shield surfaced and turned into a full-fledged battle-fighting tool in his hand. He glanced towards the huge, gold-colored, metal form of a Pegasus that was swooping above Camp-Half Blood spitting darts of Greek fire out of its slender fork-shaped tongue. Advancing cautiously towards the metal monster, he watched as he turned half a dozen arrows into ashen crisp before they could even bounce off his coat harmlessly.

He felt a gust of warm air behind him, and felt something touching his forearm and shoulder. He didn't even need to turn to the side to know that Annabeth was here with her knife. Probably invisible wearing her Yankees baseball cap with her hair tucked in, and was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him, preparing for battle was they had done so many times before.

They took slow measured steps towards the monster allowing them to spot any chinks in its metal coat, or as the "Seaweed Brain" fable goes, to remember the stories associated with the monster so that they might get an idea to kill it. "Annabeth, you remember how this monster was killed?" She sighed, "No, Perce, I don't think this monster ever existed. I would 'guess' that this perhaps might be a recent creation of Hephaestus." because she hated not knowing. Something clicked in Percy's mind. There was a fair chance that this might not actually exist at all. It could be another one of Gaia's hallucinations, but on a larger scale.

But, as far as visuals go, Gaia took the icing on the cake. It wasn't like one of those ones which could be dissipated by just keeping your mind under control. Gaia had mastered the art of tormenting people by creating images in their mind which are as real as spoons. In order to defeat her, as they had learnt in Tartarus, they had to first establish utter calmness among everyone. She did that through Morpheus but here, they had to go with the hard work.

Annabeth took off her cap and looked at Percy. Their eyes met, and he knew what she was thinking. This time they had a plan, and it wasn't only her who knew what it was. She rushed off into her cabin to retrieve Daedalus' laptop. She came out, tying up her hair, a usual sign of action, and balancing the laptop with the other hand. Percy ran over to her, and looked at her questioningly. In response, she hammered her fingers on the keys until she found the right folder and file. She clicked on it, and handed the laptop to Percy. Sure, Daedalus' notes were too complicated to be understood by Percy, but this was one of her own work. Percy furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he studied the plan carefully.

A whistling sound could be heard. It was getting louder by the second. Percy was immersed in the laptop, but nevertheless, he placed it safely on the ground. He immediately ducked, just as a stone went sailing past, where a moment ago his left eye had been. Percy looked up, then around him, and ensured that no more were coming. He then picked up the rock and pulled off the note tied to it with a string. It said- _PATTY JAMISON! WHY ARE YOU STILL HAVING YOUR UNFINISHED BREAKFAST? COME ON, YOU BRATTY LITTLE HERO, FIGHT!_

Percy laughed, and he heard Annabeth chuckle behind him. He looked around, and saw Mr. D staring wildly at him, as if he were a crazed goat who had run away. Percy mouthed a "later" at Dionysus just to annoy him, and went back to his work. After another minute, he stood up with a sigh, and brushed dust off his jeans, "Do you _really _think we should do this?"  
"Yeah, Percy, we don't have another choice."  
"Fine, let's do this then. Annabeth, are you ready?"  
"Like there won't be another chance."

He picked up his sword and shield, and tossed Annabeth's knife to her.  
Together, they sprinted to the big house, and the basement. The old oracle was still there, though she was no longer shriveled. Apollo had let her remain there, like a sort of guide for Rachel. Her eyes glowed bright green once in a new moon, as her body had once been a host for Delphi's spirit. At times like those, she spoke few words, surprisingly meaningful, and that always managed to distract the campers, how many ever times it happened.

Percy and Annabeth dashed up to the basement, collecting jars of Greek Fire as they ran up. Percy handed the jars to Annabeth who climbed up and placed them on the terrace. Meanwhile, he dragged the mummy till the raised door, when she returned to help. Then, they both hoisted it and carried it to the top.

Annabeth uncapped one of the jars and threw it at the mummy's revived hand. She trembled slightly, but bit her tongue as she firmly decided to keep her fears related to Apollo's reaction grounded. Whether he would be stereotypical godly in his actions or not, would be thought about later. Right now, they needed to save the camp.

As they had expected, the mummy stirred from the burning of her hand, and stood up, her green eyes glowing. She gave out a long trill note of pain, and that was enough to get the campers' attention. The illusion rippled very slightly, but did not vanish. After all, Gaia's illusions were such that could even cause materialistic harm. Chiron looked up, confused, while Mr. D was plain bursting with red, probably because he thought that Percy had gone over to the Big House to finish his breakfast.

Percy picked up a jar, and threw it at Zeus' fist, which caused the campers to shriek, even though they were nowhere near it. This triggered Percy and Annabeth, and they began destroying the camp, choosing carefully the areas that were deserted so that everyone except the monsters was out of harm's way. Percy grunted, _he wouldn't be going to Elysium any sooner than a millennium, considering what he was doing._

One of the Pegasi realized what he was trying to do. Thus, it spit a mouthful of acid and boulders his way. He raised his celestial bronze sword, and deflected most of the deadly acid, but some of it got on his face, and a speck touched his eye. _Oh, great. _He thought. _Mr. D misses his chance, and then this insult of a Pegasus claims my eye. _

His face burned horribly from the acid, and Annabeth yelled at him, "PERCY! HOW MUCH OF A SEAWEED BRAIN CAN YOU BE? I HAD JUST THOUGHT OF THROWING AWAY THAT NICKNAME WHEN YOU SHOW ME YOU ARE EVEN DUMBER THAN I THOUGHT! ARE YOU CRAZY? DON'T YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO DEFENSE PROPERLY? TOO MUCH OF ATTACKING PRACTICE, BUT YOU COULDN'T EVEN SAVE YOURSELF FROM THAT ACID?" On top of her screaming at the top of her lungs at him, he couldn't see from his left eye which was horrendous. _Well, I guess Annabeth shrieking at me is her way of showing me affection. Someone at least thinks positive._


	2. Chapter 2: 'Seaweed Brain' Has Got to Go

**CHAPTER 2  
****PERCY POV**  
_Author's note: Guys, I haven't been having any reviews handed in, and I'm gonna leave this fic in a cliffhanger, and won't continue until you decide to reply.  
**THANK YOU FOR ALL THE 126 VIEWS AND THAT ONE PERSON WHO HAS GIVEN A REVIEW! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. I know 126 is a pretty less number as compared to all of you out there, but it's a start. Hope more of you read this story. Do bother to give a review. It only takes abt a minute. Bec it really helps me out if you do.**_  
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I continued fighting as I couldn't afford to let Annabeth fight alone. Even though I'd hurt my eye, I would never let Annabeth be blinded. I was suffering so much pain only for the sake of my fellow demigods, and I wouldn't do anything that may cause them the slightest harm. But, the collective gasps that went around when I got injured were exactly what I wanted.

The half-bloods became defensive on realizing that I was attacked, and the monsters miraculously became weak. They wouldn't realize when an arrow would pierce a chink in their bodies, and they would disintegrate, only to reform if the shooter had not yet understood that he had killed one. As in the case of Clarisse and the entire Ares cabin, the monsters would dissolve rapidly even if nothing touched them. This was because they thought that they killed monsters with every strike, and thus the monsters would start dissolving into thin air rapidly without knowing what hit them.

This gave me confidence and I started thinking about how the monsters would look if I stuffed them with an arrow, and voila! A pair of pegasi floating in front of me vaporized on the spot. I struck Riptide down the middle of one, and thought of how good it would be if it were to stay in Tartarus. So therefore, it vanished. Probably back to its minions and Gaia, it seemed.

In about half-an-hour, we'd dealt with all the monsters, and Blackjack had helped me transport all the wounded campers to the Big House as soon as possible. The Apollo cabin had only about four campers injured, out of which only one was seriously injured, so they were able to treat their fellow campers without falling back on staff.

Annabeth came and hugged me, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Sorry." I patted her on the back and made her face me. She looked at me and grimaced. One charred female finger traced the outline of the part of my face which was burnt. I scowled, I had forgotten about my face. _What was I going to do about it? _I grabbed her hand and looked at it. It was badly blackened with soot, and so was her face. But, it wasn't difficult to see that her white skin had been set on flames by the poisonous acid. I looked at her, one eyebrow raised, and frowning disapprovingly.  
"So, Wise Girl, you aren't very good at _your _defence, are you? I made a point to emphasize on the 'your'_.  
"_Yeah, yeah, feel free to ridicule. Do you even know that I got these marks protecting you and our friends?"  
"Of course I do, Annabeth. I was only kidding. You're the bravest warrior I've ever met."  
"Really? That's a great compliment for me. Thanks."

I put an arm around her, and she put hers around my waist. Together, we walked out of the Big House for a walk on the beach. I calmly strolled to the waves and summoned up a wave to crash on me. Since I am a son of the Sea-God, I don't usually get even close to damp. But, today I really needed some cool after all that burning we'd experienced today. I stirred the wave away from Annabeth, and crashed it onto myself, focusing on getting wet.

It was really soothing, the excruciating pain somewhat lessening. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I whirled around, soaking the poor person too.  
Annabeth made a face at me, and tugged at my arm. She pulled me down beside her at the edge of the shore, near the sea. I saw a white box in her burnt hands, and she made me sit still with my hands resting behind my back. One hand of hers poured strange black cream onto her other hand, and she stuffed the tube back inside the box.

She held my face, and warned me not to shriek. After rubbing the cream on her palm between two fingers, she held one hand to my eye, and told me to close it. I did so, and relaxed as a soothing sensation overcame me. My eye felt a lot better. I don't really know what she did, but I am much less agitated now. I could feel her soft fingers tracing the length of my face slowly back and forth, and certain pricks of pain at certain points. But I bit my lip and kept quiet, and it was quite easy as compared to sword-fighting with acid smeared on your face.

I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked. I couldn't see properly. There was this weird blue blur in front of my eyes. I felt my face, and saw that it had become smooth. But my face too left blue-coloured marks on my fingers and thumb. I looked quizzically at this pile of blonde hair in front of me, since my vision was rapidly being obstructed. Turns out, it wasn't Annabeth as I'd assumed to be, but a naiad. Annabeth shushed me from behind, and grabbed my shoulders. She just had time to quickly whisper in my ear that the blue and black pastes make you black out, before I fell backwards, eyes blank, right onto her lap.

When I woke up, Grover was staring me right in the eye, and I thought about that one time when Hades had sabotaged my mom for the lightning bolt, and I'd blacked out after killing the Minotaur. It was exactly like when I woke up my first time at Camp Half-Blood, and I honestly thought it was a dream. That is until Grover started playing on his reed pipes to shake me out of my sleep, as it always works. Well, I'd like to say it had the desired effect, though not because of the music. I didn't remember Grover _playing reed pipes _in my dream, and that immediately got back my senses.

I tried to get up, and groaned. My whole being hurt terribly. As I propped myself on one elbow and turned to the side, I felt something... or someone soft. I glanced up, and nearly blanched myself, looking into Annabeth's scared, bleach-white face. "Annie girl! You okay?"  
"_Percy! This is all my fault! All my fault! I shouldn't have taken the risk! I shouldn't have applied it at all! It was banned after all! But I thought that it would _heal_ you!" _She mumbled, groaning herself, not paying attention that I had woken up.  
"Annabeth! I am awake. And I _can _see properly!"  
"Y-you can?"  
"Yes Annabeth. Now calm down, and have some of my Blue Coke."  
I pulled out a pair of Coke Zeros from my backpack lying beside me, and handed one to her. As I again unsuccessfully tried to get up, Annabeth made me lie down again with a harsh look that clearly stated- _don't you dare!  
_"_Fine!_" I grumbled.  
I popped the top open and drank half the bottle in one gulp. _Gods, I was starved! _"Umm, what's the date?" that's because I usually have a tendency of sleeping in the hospital no less than a couple of days.

Annabeth must have guessed, therefore she reassured me, "Don't worry Perce, it is the same day you fainted, only midnight."  
I groaned. Dinner must be over. "Now what do I do? I am savage."  
Annabeth told me that Chiron had allowed the plates and glasses to be left there in case this happened. So, she led me to the Poseidon table, and I sat down. She, meanwhile, was lighting candles. It was pretty nice to revel in that homely feeling radiating from those flickering candles. Annabeth too looked really beautiful in the silver moonlight. Everything was perfect.

Soon, she took a seat beside me. I scooped up a goblet, and asked her what she would like. She told me that tonight the food would be of my choice.  
"One blue cookie milkshake for Madame Annabeth, my saviour!" I toasted.  
She followed suit, "Oh, thank you Landlord Percy. And, what shall you have?"  
I couldn't take it anymore and I laughed loudly, "Seriously? Annabeth, _land_lord?"  
Annabeth leaned towards me, and whispered, "_You still haven't me told me what you'd like, my dearest _landlord."  
I swiped the goblet from her hand, and noticed that her wounds were not only still there, but also wet."  
"I'll have a blue cookie milkshake too!" I rejoiced. Then I took her hand, and led her to the middle.  
"Care for a dance, Lady Wise Girl?"  
"Of course, Seaweed Brain."  
And so I spun her around so fast she felt dizzy and she caught me on the arm to prevent herself from falling. I helped her stand, and said, "So, been crying, huh? What _did I do to deserve this?"  
_And so she slapped my arm, "Why the teasing? Of course you didn't do anything. I was just sad that I'd have to go to my stepmother if I was thrown out."  
"Don't lie."  
"Yeah, like you are that important. Like you consider me more important than eating."  
"I meant that you still haven't treated your own wounds whereas you're sitting and waiting for me to wake up until midnight. Much good daughter of Athena, aren't you?"  
"I am _sorry _I cried, okay? I should have gone and got them treated instead of crying over my wounds and whether you'd wake up or not."  
"Come on, then. On that happy note, let's eat!"

We both pigged out on delicacies until two in the morning. Looks like Annabeth had missed lunch _and _dinner too. So, I handed her a plate, and wished for blue cupcakes with smileys to appear, and so they did. Well, that sure cheered her up. We laughed like mad men...and women, until we fell out of our chairs, shaking. After that, all we'd do is get back up and start laughing again.  
Suddenly, I heard something. Looked like Annabeth heard it too. We both crouched behind the table and waited. A sudden gleam caught my eye.  
**-REVIEW-**


	3. Chapter 3: It's Raining Chaos- PRECAP

**CHAPTER 3  
Annabeth POV  
-**A LITTLE PRECAP FOR YOU GUYS, WHO HAVE BEEN SO VERY SWEET TO FOLLOW AND REVIEW-  
Percy and I had been enjoying ourselves eating, but there obviously _had_ to be some sort of a problem always. We caught a sudden gleam, from somewhere to our right, near the forest. We could hear little swishing sounds, like that of a giant animal flicking its tail, or a whip bashing somebody up. I'd rather go with the first one, even thought it was very much plausible that maybe, it was a monster, in the dead of the night.

I sneaked behind my chair quietly and took my dagger. I was so glad that Perce had stopped being so much of a Seaweed Brain, and coaxed me into getting my weapons just in case. I squeezed his arm, and poised ready for battle, if needed. Percy looked like he was trying to be a gentleman, and took the lead. I rolled my eyes, and stepped beside him as an indication that- _In this we're _together.

He grinned, and we tiptoed across the entrance of the forest to behind a huge oak tree. I leaned over and I had to strain my eyes to not close. Though, I did squint, and from what I could make out, it was the gleam that had caught our eye. Before, it was quite faint, but now it hurt to even look at it.

Percy glanced at me, the celestial bronze Riptide pointing towards the crunched leaves and muddy footprints further ahead on the path. I nodded slowly, though I was bemused. _Why did the monster go back into the forest instead of attacking the demigods? Was it a monster even? And if it was, what had scared it so, that it ran back into the forest? And what if it wasn't? Then, what is it? _

_-REVIEW AND TELL ME HOW YOU LIKED IT. FOLLOW AND FAVORITE IF YOU DO.- _


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